Keyword: Diplomacy

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The brother of the late figurehead of the Afghan Taliban on Sunday joined a growing challenge to the extremist group’s newly appointed leader, even as it offered a statement purportedly quoting a well-known militant supporting him.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Political uncertainty inside the Taliban has cast doubt on the prospects for an end to the war in Afghanistan. On Saturday the Taliban’s controversial new leader vowed to continue fighting while urging unity among his followers in a message aimed at preventing a split in the group between those who want peace and those who still believe they can win.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The new leader of the Afghan Taliban faces the twin challenges of bringing together an insurgency that he ran for years under another man’s name and uniting a fractured movement that has seen fighters desert for more extreme groups such as the Islamic State. Meanwhile, the Afghan government believes it can seize on the Taliban leadership crisis it has created by announcing that Mullah Mohammad Omar has been dead for more than two years to further weaken the insurgency.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The first signs of the deep fractures within the Afghan Taliban surfaced on Friday as the son of Mullah Mohammad Omar rejected the choice of his successor, just hours after the group issued a statement praising their new leader as one of the late chief’s most “trusted” associates.

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelans are struggling to call abroad as telephone carriers fall behind on payments to international partners amid a currency crisis that is leaving the country increasingly cut off from the rest of the world.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Taliban confirmed the death of longtime leader Mullah Mohammad Omar and appointed his successor Thursday, as a new round of peace talks was indefinitely postponed amid concerns over how committed the new leadership is to ending the militant group’s 14-year insurgency.

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — If any hopes have been raised that the progress between the United States and Iran to halt Tehran’s development of nuclear weapons could bring change in Pyongyang, North Korea has gone out of its way to thwart them.